I’m setting up a new laptop with Win 7. I have FF installed and running, but I can not get my bookmarks into the laptop. In the past, I have copied Places.sqlite to a thumb drive and pasted into the proper profile directory and that has always worked. I’ve tried importing from the thumb drive, but it will not recognize an sqlite file.

To compound this problem, if I open Windows Explorer on the laptop I do not have an AppData folder on the new computer. If I search for Places.sqlite, it shows the path, but I can not get there. Why is the AppData folder not being shown?

Try pressing the Windows Key + R to bring up the run prompt and put it "%appdata%" which will bring up C:\Users\(user)\AppData\Roaming

Oh, I guess I actually do Backup and the Restore from file with the Bookmarks. Another option is in Firefox, go to Help -> Troubleshooting Information and click the Open Profile Folder button for something like C:\Users\(user)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\vmoan4z5.default-1510687792400

LIMPET235 wrote:A very serious security blunder by MS....to have that option available & checked by default.

Oddly enough, for Firefox users (for the last 10 years) it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference.

The mistake people have made is the assumption that profile access must be made via the full path in Explorer, when you do that then, yes, you need hidden folders showing. People then assumed, without checking, that if the App Data folder is hidden then so are all the folders and files within it, so we still get this 2004 advice trotted out all the time.

But, that's not how you access the profile! Help > Troubleshoot Info > Open Folder and there's the profile folder, whether hidden folders/files are hidden or not.

These days, we use about:profiles entered into the addressbar and open the profile that way.

As for these bookmarks, go to profile, exit Firefox, delete existing places.sqlite and paste in new one. Don't forget that since Firefox 55, you also need to paste in favicons.sqlite the same way, but I don't bother as they get recreated anyway as you open the bookmarked websites.

Metal Lion latest SeaMonkey & Thunderbird Themes - Sea Monkey and Silver Sea Monkey"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)

LIMPET235 wrote:Sorry for taking this OT, but I think it's an important point, generally speaking.

Frank,What if someone sends you an email & it ends in .txt .mov or .jpg.eg; "Hey (your name), take a look at this cute video or image or ?"

Can one be sure that they are just those file types or do they have an added .exe or .pdf or whateveron the end that is hidden by the Window's setting?

Be interested to know about that situation.

That is the one that is simply inexcusable by Microsoft. Not only, as you pointed out, is that a real security problem that means that non-tech users cannot, effectively, open anything, but it also means that non-tech users will pretty much stay as non-tech users forever.

Point is, even the most non-tech user is going to figure out in time that every file that ends in .pdf, .mp4, .png, etc always opens exactly the same respective program for the specific file extension each and every time. So, they learn in an easy curve and it means when someone says 'Don't click any file that ends in .exe' or 'I've just sent you a .pdf for your washing machine...' they then know exactly what you mean.

There is no virtue at all in keeping people in ignorance for no good reason.

Metal Lion latest SeaMonkey & Thunderbird Themes - Sea Monkey and Silver Sea Monkey"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)

Well, it doesn’t make any sense that I need to delete places.sqlite before pasting the new one in, but it worked. I now have all my bookmarks in the laptop. Did the same with favicons.sqlite, tho I don’t know what that file does. Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

I think "favicons.sqlite" is where the favicons are stored. I only say this because if you delete it, all the favicons under Bookmarks revert back to the generic icons, and then that file is rebuilt when you restart FF. Just curious, why didn't you export your bookmarks to a file, and then import that file into your new FF on the laptop?

darkrats wrote:I think "favicons.sqlite" is where the favicons are stored. I only say this because if you delete it, all the favicons under Bookmarks revert back to the generic icons, and then that file is rebuilt when you restart FF. Just curious, why didn't you export your bookmarks to a file, and then import that file into your new FF on the laptop?

I’ve never been able to figure out how Import Export works. Much easier to copy paste, and kind of hassle as I have to do it with a thumb drive. I’m clueless as to how to network these two computers together.

wingspar wrote:Well, it doesn’t make any sense that I need to delete places.sqlite before pasting the new one in, but it worked.

Yeah, it does. This new laptop, is it brand new or a corporate refurb?

I ask because I could tell something was amiss when you couldn't see App Data, even though your Explorer settings were correct. Someone has made a pig's ear of the Advanced Security Permissions here and blocked 'Modify' (which is why you can't overwrite) but left 'Write' and 'Delete' with full permissions.

Metal Lion latest SeaMonkey & Thunderbird Themes - Sea Monkey and Silver Sea Monkey"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)